Burnaby Now October 27 2022

Burnaby couldsee laneway homes approved nextfall

Laneway homes could be approved in Burnaby by fall 2023, according to a new city report

As Burnaby looks to hit its target of adding 14,940 housing units by 2030, it is in the process of diver sifying its housing stock to include “missing middle” housing.

That includes multi ple residential units on the same lot, like duplexes, tri plexes, fourplexes, row homes, lowrise apart ments, secondary suites and laneways

After a summer of pub lic outreach on creat ing missing middle hous ing, particularly laneway homes, the city has come out with a new engage ment report, outlining what residents want to see in these new options

Earlier this year, a total

BONE YARD: Skeletons, ghouls and ghosts have come alive at 5686 Rumble St The front yard of the South Burnaby home has been transformed by Halloween enthusiast Jimmy Sharma and friends Matthew Erickson and Forrest Halldorson, who are raising money for B C Children’s Hospital The spooky display, which features 20 moving pieces, a smoke machine, strobe lights and more, is open for walkthroughs daily from 6 to 11 p m PHOTO CORNELIANAYLOR

LaurenVanderdeen lvanderdeen@burnabynow com

JailedSaveOldGrowthprotesterreleasedonbail

Benjamin Holt is charged with mischief for protests in Burnaby,Vancouver and the North Shore

CorneliaNaylor cnaylor@burnabynow com

A 52 year old computer pro grammer charged with mischief in relation to old growth logging protests in Burnaby,Vancouver and the North Shore has been released on bail after spending nearly five days in jail.

Benjamin Donald Holt was taken into custody on the Li ons Gate Bridge at about 1:30 a m on Oct 20 after police re sponded to a protest action by Save Old Growth, a group call ing for the end of old growth logging in B C

The protesters were in the process of painting a 50 metre “Save Old Growth” stencil onto the middle lane of the bridge but only got as far as “Save” be fore police arrived, according to information presented at a bail hearing Monday.

Crown prosecutor Ellen Leno argued Holt should remain in custody

She noted he was already facing two previous mischief charges for earlier protests when he was arrested again.

On April 18, he had perched atop an eight foot ladder and held out two coloured smoke sticks billowing the green and yellow colours of Save Old Growth during a demonstra tion that saw protesters block

the westbound lanes of Grand view Highway in Burnaby at the height of the morning com mute

On June 14, he was one of three protesters who glued themselves to the road when Save Old Growth blocked the westbound lane of the Upper Levels Highway near the Horse shoe Bay ferry terminal

Holt had been released under

conditions banning him from blocking traffic, but Leno pre sented photos and videos sug gesting he might have been at a Lions Gate Bridge protest on Aug. 2 doing just that.

Leno said charges may be laid against Holt in that protest as well.

“He seems rather entrenched in his views and his ongoing of fences despite the bail condi

tions that he’s on,” Leno said Defence lawyer Benjamin Isitt argued Holt should be released on $1,500 bail and said Holt’s wife was in court ready with the cash. Isitt noted Holt, a father of two teenagers, didn’t have a criminal record and his alleged offences didn’t involve violence or the threat of violence, so de nying him bail would be unrea sonable.

Isitt also argued Holt wasn’t breaching his bail conditions last Thursday because there was little traffic on the bridge at that time of the morning and the middle lane was closed

“He is a person of good char acter who is motivated by genu inely held concerns rooted in a consensus of scientific research that the climate crisis poses an existential threat to humanity and to other species and that urgent action is necessary to change course,” Isitt said.

But B C provincial court Judge Nancy Adams said, “No matter how commendable the cause, breaking the law in this sense is clearly undermining the rule of law”

She said her decision needed to take public safety into ac count

“In my view, all of the things I’ve heard about on the three days he’s charged involve pub lic safety, whether anyone was harmed or not,” she said

Adams said there was a “sub stantial likelihood” he would commit another offence if he was released, but she concluded keeping him in jail wasn’t the only way to mitigate that risk.

She released him on a $1,500 cash deposit bail with a number of conditions.

Holt’s next court date is scheduled for Oct 31

Defrauded co-op wins $2M lawsuit against bank

CorneliaNaylor cnaylor@burnabynow com

A Burnaby co op de frauded by its former president of more than $2 million has successfully sued the bank that let her deposit bogus co op che ques into her personal ac count for five years

Lillian Cameron was a longtime resident of the Halston Hills Housing Co op on Horne Street and its president from 2008 to 2016, according to facts presented in court in 2020

In November 2016, Cameron walked into the Burnaby RCMP detach ment and announced she was turning herself in for stealing hundreds of thou sands of dollars from her co op

Her bank had told her it was launching an inves tigation into large sums of money deposited into her account by cheque, she said, and she knew the jig was up.

Cameron initially claimed she had stolen only about $500,000 over an 18 month period and

lost all the money gam bling.

But a police investiga tion eventually revealed Cameron had stolen $2,054,228 68 over about five years by writing out co op cheques to various contractors based on fake invoices and then depos iting the cheques in her own account.

After pleading guilty to fraud, Cameron was sen tenced in January 2020 to three years and nine months in prison and or dered to pay back the money.

The co op then went after Cameron’s bank, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, arguing CIBC was liable for the $2 million.

“Where a collecting bank pays out on a forged endorsement, it will be li able for conversion,” B C Supreme Court Justice Peter Edelmann explained in a ruling last week Edelmann said “the overarching question” be fore him was “which inno cent party, CIBC or Hal ston Hills, will bear the loss for Ms. Cameron’s

fraud ”

CIBC argued Cameron had been the “guiding mind” of Halston Hills during the relevant pe riod, and the fraud should therefore be attributed to the co op

The bank also argued some of the Halston Hills claims should be time barred under the Limita tions Act

Edelmann disagreed

He concluded Cameron hadn’t been the guiding mind of the co op while she was writing the fraud ulent cheques, and no

part of the co op’s claims were time barred

“Although Ms Cam eron had various duties and responsibilities in her role as president, includ ing in part the co ordina tion and payment of re pair and maintenance work at the co op, the ev idence does not establish that she had unfettered decision making author ity,” Edelmann wrote

Edelmann found CIBC liable to Halston Hills “in conversion” and ordered a judgment against the bank totalling $2,054,228.68.

Old Growth protester Benjamin

protest on Grandview Highway in April,

OLD GROWTH

CorneliaNaylor cnaylor@burnabynow com

A Lower Mainland real estate licence tutor has successfully sued a former contractor who started his own service in Burnaby in violation of a non compe tition agreement.

Quick Pass MasterTu torial School Ltd was awarded $50,000 in a suit against Li Min (Richard)

Zhao

Quick Pass teaches Mandarin speaking stu dents the “tricks, the prin ciples, and the concepts” needed to pass UBC’s real estate licence exam, ac cording to information contained in a B C Su preme Court ruling last week

BensonWang, the school’s founder, testi fied his approach makes it

much easier for Mandarin speaking students to study for the exam because it only teaches them “what is necessary for them to pass,” according to the rul ing

Zhao worked at the school as a teacher be tween June 9, 2016 and Oct 31, 2017

He had signed an inde pendent contractor agree ment with Quick Pass that contained non competi tion, non solicitation and confidentiality clauses

Under the non compete clause, Zhao agreed not to start up any kind of similar tutoring service inVancou ver, Burnaby or Richmond for 18 months after end ing his employment with Quick Pass

But in Nov 1, 2017, just one day after terminating his contract with Quick

Pass, Zhao opened his own school at 4555 King sway in Burnaby.

After Quick Pass won a restraining order against him in May 2018, Zhao moved his school to New Westminster

In a ruling Friday, Justice GordonWeatherill found Zhao had breached part of his agreement with Quick Pass, including the non compete and confi dentiality clauses

Zhao told the court

the materials he used af ter starting his own busi ness on Nov 1, 2017 were “entirely his own work product, developed with out reference to the plain tiff’s teaching materials or the materials used by him while teaching at the plaintiff’s schools,” ac cording to the ruling

ButWeatherill said it was “obvious from even a cursory examination” that the materials were “to a significant degree identi

cal.”

“The genesis of the ma terials was the plaintiff,” Weatherill wrote

He awarded Quick Pass $50,000 in damages

The company had ar gued for $130,000 the difference between its in come in the six months before Zhao started his competing business and the six months after butWeatherill said Quick Pass hadn’t proven its de clining revenues hadn’t been caused by other fac tors, such as the loss of five other teachers, infla tion, a new and enhanced English language require ment and the departure of Zhao acknowledged to be the school’s best teacher

Quick Pass also asked for special costs against Zhao for his “conduct in

the litigation, in particular the clear evidence that he lied and falsified evidence both in examination for discovery and in an affida vit filed in connection with the injunction application Weatherill agreed.

He concluded Zhao’s evidence had been un truthful on a number of points.

“I have no difficulty finding that the defen dant’s evidence on most, if not all, material issues was false and contrived in an attempt to achieve success in this action,”Weather ill said “The harsh reality is that once a witness has been shown to be decep tive and untruthful in giv ing his evidence, that wit ness can no longer expect the court to consider him to be a trusted source of the truth ”

MariaRantanen editorial@burnabynow com

A GoFundMe page for the family of Const Shae lynYang, who was killed in the line of duty this week, raised close to $60,000 within the first day and had surpassed $85,000 at press time

The Burnaby RCMP of ficer, who was a Richmond resident, was killed last Tuesday at a homeless en campment

The GoFundMe page states donations will be used towards arrange ments and to help her fam ily’s finances while they are grieving.Yang, who was 31, is survived by her spouse and family

The GoFundMe page describesYang as “some one with an extraordinary

gift for lifting others up”

“What set Shaelyn apart was her heart and its ca pacity to help and care for others,” it continues “Her innate spirit of putting oth ers before herself was what led her to dedicate her life to service.”

The GoFundMe page also included heart felt comments from those who have donated Adrian and Jeff Ho posted: “We will always re member you, Shae Salute to your bravery, service and sacrifice Our heartfelt condolences.”

A Burnaby bylaw em ployee, Robert Grimm, said his department and the RCMP mental health team work closely together “Thank you for answer ing the call to duty and may you rest in peace The

loss still stings but your service and sacrifice is ap preciated beyond words ”

A former high school classmate talked about do ing kendo with Yang in high school, and de scribed her as a “whole heartedly good soul ”

“Shae had a way of making you laugh and stop worrying with her jovial na ture and calming presence,” read the post from Jus tineYiu

uated

Yang died after be ing stabbed at Broadview Park near CanadaWay and Curle Avenue

RCMPConst. ShaelynYang

Yang was a full time vol unteer with Richmond RCMP’sVictim Services unit before training to be come a police officer She was posted at the Burnaby detachment after she grad

She had at tended the park with a City of Burnaby parks employee re sponding to a complaint, ac cording to police The suspect in volved in the in cident was sent to hospital with gunshot wounds but is expected to survive

Thirty seven year old Jongwon Ham has been charged with first degree murder

The GoFundMe was set up by SimoneYang Richmond News

Opinionnow

Topic: Charged in officer’s killing

“Really lousy that a lot of reactionaries are going to use this to further demonize homeless people

“He was arrested February, let out on a promise to appear in March Had a no weapons order. And yet, here we are. Way to go judges

MY VIEW KEITH BALDREY

Eby should stick to centrist script

Incoming B C pre mier designate David Eby would be wise to stick to his predecessor’s style of governing, which means not embarking down paths favoured by activists of all stripes who right now are rather vocal within his party Outgoing Premier John Horgan told me early on in his first term that it was important for his party to drop the activist ways that characterized its time in Opposition Forming gov ernment raised the stakes and forced the party more to the political centre and away from the more fringe activist elements

The first indication the BC NDP had actually done that was its decision to finish the Site C dam, which the

party firmly opposed before forming government It also backed the LNG industry, which it mocked while on the other side of the House.

When he was in Opposition indeed, even before he entered politics Eby carved out a reputation as an activist lawyer who championed civil liberties, the homeless and opposed a number of police actions.

When he became attor ney general in 2017, there was speculation he would continue with his activist approach, but, much to the dismay of his opponents, he did not do that.

The BC NDP attracts a broad range of liberals, unionists, and social and environmental activists The party’s recent leadership

“race” revived in some ways the age old debate that exists within parties like the NDP: is it better to adopt public policies that are not popular yet satisfy ideological prefer ences? Or is it better to com promise on some of those beliefs in order to achieve real political power in order to actually implement some of those policies?

Horgan and his caucus have obviously opted for the latter approach, much to the dismay of disqualified NDP leadership candidate Anjali Appadurai and her support ers

Eby says he intends to take action on a number of fronts in his first 100 days of office They include health care, street crime, old growth log ging, climate action and, of

course, housing affordability I will be surprised, how ever, if he proposes to do anything radical on any of those issues His outgoing predecessor led his party to an impressive majority in the 2020 election by governing from the middle, with a def inite shift to the progressive side of the political ledger

Straying from this “centrist left” approach could prove disastrous for the BC NDP at the ballot box come the next election

Going down the activist road is not a path towards forming government and staying in government. We shall see if Eby sticks to Horgan’s largely successful script. I am betting he will.

Keith Baldrey is chief po litical reporter for Global BC

LastWeek

Are you happy with the results of Burnaby’s municipal election?

ThisWeek

Should Burnaby use its underused land to help provide transitional housing for the homeless?

Paul Tribble via Facebook Nick Cardarelli via Facebook

Lara Graham

Mark Falkenberg

Vicki Magnison

We need to revisit policing and mental health calls

least a step in the right direction, although, as usual, not nearly numerous enough to address the desperate need

Having spoken to two police officers attending my condo complex on a “health check,” I asked them about the mandates of the police to address mental health issues Their response was that the rules governing police jurisdiction are pretty much written in stone, and individual members haven’t a hope in making necessary changes

The incredibly sad passing of the Burnaby officer must be the needed impetus to make these changes ASAP

which is at

Editor: It’s no secret that the laudable members of our hard working police forces continue to provide exemplary services to the residents of this country. It’s also no longer a secret that mental health issues that result in criminal behaviour are not the exclusive jurisdiction of the police There are such things as police cars with mental health nurses accompanying the

Penny Oyama, Burnaby

In memory: Tributes to Burnaby RCMP Const Shaelyn Yang, who was killed on duty at a Burnaby park on Tuesday, Oct 18 PHOTO CORNELIA NAYLOR/BURNABY NOW

Partial

LynnValley’snewestaffordablerentalhousing forindependentseniors

Home At its most fundamental, it’s a sense of place Where your apartment isnt “just” an apartment, but a place you feel proud to call home Its community Its social when you want, like your morning ritual coffee with neighbours, active as you wish, think a spirited game of bocce, or serene when you crave quiet, like the peaceful pleasure of tending to your garden plot

North Vancouver’s Lynn Woods at 2551 Whiteley Court is all this, and more

Kiwanis North Shore Housing Society (KNSHS) has been providing these experiences empowering seniors to live their best life independently for more than 70 years

To retire affordably in high quality housing has been one of Greater Vancouver’s seemingly insurmountable challenges

However, KNSHS continues to move the needle in the right direction while strengthening community connections with affordable housing options

Lynn Woods is their latest example of delivering a renewed sense of belonging to seniors in below market rental housing, a pillar of their developments in both North and West Vancouver

“This project is partially funded by BC Housing and is a collaborative partnership with the District of North Vancouver and Kiwanis North Shore Housing Society,” says Stefan Baune, executive director, KNSHS “It’s part of a bigger province wide plan to address housing shortages and housing affordability in the province at large ”

Baune explains that Lynn Woods is part of the Community Housing Plan program “Under this

program, non profit organizations have an opportunity to develop affordable housing with three tiers of income for their renters So, there’s a tiny percent of units that are deep subsidy, rented for $375/month ”

Allocationisstructuredformixed incomelevel households Out of 106 one bedroom units, 53 units (50%) have been rented to residents who will pay 30% of their income for rent, and 30% of units are market rental units

“32 units in our case are earmarked for tenants with income between $57,000 and $77, 000, so suites are priced at $1,570/month, which is slightly over the average rent in the District of North Vancouver, according to CMHC research,” reveals Baune.

“However, if you look at the development that we ’ re offering, $1,570 for a one bedroom spacious unit is still far below what you would typically pay in this area of North Vancouver for a newly built apartment ” Comparatively, Burnabys new developments are not addressing local seniors needs Burnaby’s 2021 Housing Needs Report reveals low income seniors who rent are facing significant housing insecurity Renting in the community is typically far more expensive than reflected in CMHC data; Padmapper com shows median listed Burnaby rents for one bedroom apartments as $1,675 in December 2020

The Canadian Rental Housing Index shows that renters spent an average of 20% of their household income ($45,935 to $78,112) on rent for a one bedroom plus utilities in Burnaby

Comfortableandcontemporaryliving

North Vancouver’s Lynn Woods building is designed exclusively with seniors in mind Youll not only find senior specific elements within the units, but all common areas, for example, there’s extra wide hallways which allow walkers to pass unincumbered Units are adaptable to seniors’ needs and average 579 square feet, including a large in suite storage room “We have thought a lot about design material and layout for people with mobility aids,” says Baune. “Entryways and bathrooms are designed for easy access with a walker ”

Building&communityamenities

There’s no shortage of building amenities to make your life easy and enjoyable, including two elevators, in suite storage, a bike and scooter storage room, and a community garden Both underground parking and basement storage lockers are available for additional fees The art room and great hall with fireplace and TV are welcoming social spaces

Lynn Woods is in close proximity to transit and Lynn Valley Centre with a shopping mall, public library, health care services and restaurants, all within walking distance

“Its our intent to dedicate our services as a housing owner and operator doing business for a purpose, ” says Baune “Housing is such an integral part of our mission, but its not all Our organization is trying to reach out and be part of a broader community that allows tenants to not just enjoy and enrich their lives, but for Kiwanis to do our part of service to our community

Kiwanis North Shore Housing Society’s six-storey Lynn Woods, offers one-bedroom suites

LynnWoodsbyKiwanisNorthShoreHousingSociety

PHOTOSVIAKNSHS

AbhinayaNatesh anatesh@burnabynow com

Ethnic and religious stereotyping continue to present obstacles for im migrants in Canada, says a prominent journalist.

Kamal al Solaylee, speaking during the fifth and final instalment of the five part conversation se ries of SFU’s Onstage Conversations, hosted by Simon Fraser University scholar Amyn B Sajoo, explored the role of race and meaning of “home” in a diversifying world

Al Solaylee, the author of Brown and director of the University of British Columbia’s school of jour nalism, writing and me dia, spotlighted the con stant suspicion of “brown” Muslims in a post 9/11 world as lines blur be tween migrants, who move out of desperation, and immigrants, who relocate to find better lives

“Those of us who are Muslim live under con stant suspicion for the reli gion we follow,” he said.

Although there are Muslims from different parts of the world, includ ing Europe, he said main stream media has been complicit in painting a pic ture of terrorists as brown skinned Muslims

He added that the inter section of race, ethnicity and gender has promoted

stereotypes such as the as sociation of brown people with transient labour and domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia.

“It’s hard not to think of the grand South Asian worker, without consider ing the thousands of con struction workers from Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, whose blood and sweat [helped build] virtually every building high or lowrise in Du bai and Qatar,” he said

“It is in Dubai, too, that middle class immigrants from the Middle East and the South Asian subconti nent have for decades kept the schools, banks, hos pitals, hotels, food courts and malls running without ever being afforded the benefits of citizenship.”

The stereotyping exists worldwide, and Canada is no exception, he said noting immigrant doctors are seen driving cabs and engineers working in fac tories. It is largely due to a gap existing between Can ada’s immigration policies and where the labour mar ket is, he added

“I think this is a bigger conversation about rec ognition of qualifications from abroad, for example I live in a building where the doorman was a clas sical musician, for exam ple; this inToronto And I think something needs to be done fast To rec

ognize the qualifications from overseas universities

A lot of that is racism as well, like it’s perceived that university in Pakistan or in Nepal would not be good,” he said

“If you believe it will not be the same good qual ity education, then cre ate some kind of fast track program where you could retrain people to Canadian standards ”

Al Solaylee said it must be recognized that the path to career progress for new immigrants is be ing hampered by a profes sional societies or special interest groups, leading to

overworked, exploited im migrants without a path way for citizenship

He believes that “race infiltrates every aspect of an experience” and hopes there will be con tinued serious discussion about race and belong ing in Canada It all starts with reclaiming the term “brown” as “self identity,” he said.

“If you’re a Black Ca nadian, and you say, I’m a proud Black Cana dian, does that marginal ize Black communities? I don’t think it does,” he said.

“If you’re an Irish Ca

nadian, and you say, ‘I am proud of my Irish roots and my Irishness,’ does that make you less Cana dian? But why is it that we when people are saying ‘I’m brown’ or ‘I’m Mus lim or Indian or Pakistani’ that we kind of feel you may not be quite as Ca nadian?

“I think, as I write in the book, it’s because a lot of other young people from European background, Southern European back ground who came here in the 19th century, lost that hyphen: Italian Canadian, Irish Canadian.That hy phen just became ‘Cana

dian,’ but that hyphen is still there for us ”

The hyphen will likely stay, he said, mainly be cause of the skin colour.

“We are always going to be Muslim Canadian, brown Canadian, Indian Canadian, Ismaili Cana dians ”

In opening the talk, Sa joo noted, “In modernity, we fit people into our pre conceived ideas of citizen ship and belonging ”

But he challenged the idea, saying, “Depending on where you are, it’s not universal,” he said. “The rules of the game are not uniform you have to fit in ”

Echoing the words of Olivier Roy, the author of Holy Ignorance, Sajoo re minded the audience of the difficulty of trying to fit in, especially in the age of Islamophobia, by pull ing up the government statistics for hate crimes in 2021

“Hate motivated crimes targeting religion jumped 67 per cent in just two years,” he said “Those targeting sexual orienta tion climbed 64 per cent And those targeting race or ethnicity, which were already very high, went up another six per cent.”

Onstage Conversations 2022 were presented by Simon Fraser University, in partnership with the Is maili Centres

Immigrantidentity: Host Amyn B Sajoo (left), scholar in residence for international studies at Simon Fraser University, joins guest speaker, author and journalist Kamal al Solaylee in discussion as part of the Onstage Conversations 2022 series, presented by SFU PHOTO SOBHANAJAYA MADHAVAN

MALVERN PARK PLANT PULL

Rain

WHEN:

WHERE: Malvern

COST:

ZAMBIAN INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATION

Celebrate

WHEN:

WHERE:

COST:

BURNABY ARTISTS GUILD SHOW AND SALE

Running

WHEN:

WHERE:

COST:

EERIE ILLUSIONS

Sunday

WHEN:

WHERE:

COST:

DON’T FORGET…

Pumpkins

The

PHOTO

CITY OF BURNABY

of 2,550 respondents completed Burnaby’s housing choices survey

the city said it was the highest number of re sponses received from any city survey at the time

The report said partic ipants felt a “sense of ur gency” and wanted “more diverse housing options as soon as possible ”

They suggested a streamlining of the ap provals process, including pre approved designs, lim iting public consultation for projects and reducing the length of the permit ting process

The potential options for building a laneway in volve aTetris like game of triangulating priorities if you want a bigger lane way home, you might have to settle for a smaller yard, and if you build it taller,

you could get a carport underneath

Trade offs are part of the process, residents noted in the engagement.

Participants frequently advocated for flexibility in housing choices, including the number of storeys and building heights, parking, setbacks, outdoor spaces and landscaping, among others.

There was support for taller laneways of two or three storeys to allow for more open space on smaller lots.

Accessibility was noted as important, with fea tures like at grade, no step entrances and options for one storey laneways (though some worried one storey laneways might have too large a footprint on smaller lots)

Two storey laneways were generally supported,

with some debate about whether using space be low ground would neg atively impact livability, while three storey options caused some concerns over being too tall Some participants wor ried about laneway heights in proportion to the main home

Parking made up a

large part of the discus sion, with some agreement that one covered parking spot would be enough and three spaces too many

The report said there was “strong support” for carports and cantile vered designs of the home (a projected structure at tached at one end) that would provide covered

parking with the oppor tunity to use the second floor for living or outdoor space

“Some residents also shared that the number of parking spaces should depend on proximity to transit, where areas bet ter served by transit could reduce parking require ments,” stated the report

There was a mix of opinion regarding lane way outdoor space, with some preferring side and rear yards, while others preferred a setback yard facing the lane though some had concerns this would reduce privacy for the main house

The conversation around setbacks (how far a building can be from the property line) was de tailed, with some partic ipants wanting to max imize living space by

reducing setbacks, and others not wanting the laneway to be as wide as the lot

Smaller setbacks were considered more appro priate in urban areas with smaller lots

Many were interested in using rooftops as private outdoor space

Some wanted to see windows on all sides of a laneway, while others ex pressed worry about pri vacy for windows and bal conies looking onto the lane and neighbouring homes

Multiple people sup ported requiring electric vehicle charging

In general, people “fa voured design features that supported livability,” like access to natural day light, generous windows, private greenspaces and high ceilings

Missing middle: Burnaby is studying adding new housing options in the city, including laneway homes PHOTO CITY OF BURNABY

Artsnow

CatchLittleMissHigginsonstage atShadboltCentrenextFriday

It’s time to sit back and let country folk music wash over you with the guitar and lilting vocals of Little Miss Higgins

Jolene Higgins will perform songs from her album My Home,My Heart at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on Friday, Nov 4

The Alberta born musician Hig gins, now based in Manitoba, has been steeped in music her whole life, winning threeWestern Canadian Music Awards along the way and picking up nominations for Juno and Maple Blues awards

“When I was about four, my dad brought home an old mini grand piano and told me it was mine I carved my name in the side of it and then I had to start taking piano les sons,” Higgins said in a press release.

Higgins draws inspirations from a range of artists including Mem phis Minnie, Billie Holiday and Joni Mitchell, and Canadians Big Dave McLean, Corb Lund and the Deep DarkWoods

CHECK IT OUT

When: Friday, Nov. 4 at 8 p.m.

Where: James CowanTheatre at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (6450 Deer Lake Ave )

Cost: $25 for adults, $15 for youth aged 18 and under, tickets through tickets shadboltcentre com LaurenVanderdeen

Potters’Guild hostsholidaysale nextweekend

Find a wide variety of functional and sculptural work

Support your local ar tisans and marvel at the beautiful world of ceram ics at the Burnaby Pot ters’ Guild holiday sale this November

The annual Christmas sale will be on Nov 5 and 6 from 10 a m to 5 p m at Lochdale Community Centre, just off Hastings Street

With a large selection of handmade pottery both sculptural and func tional handcrafted by guild members, it’s a wonderful chance to do some holiday shopping

The guild is celebrat ing its 45th anniversary this year and will be host

ing giveaways and door prizes at the sale as well, including cute hedgehog planters.

Hand sanitizer will be available and masks are recommended as the venue is small Parking is free

The 25 member guild works out of the Shad bolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby

CHECK IT OUT

When: Nov 5 and 6 (10 a m to 5 p m )

Where: Lochdale Com munity Centre (490 Sperling Ave )

Cost: Free admission

Mr. Savkur (red vest) on stage with Hon. George Chow, David Eby, Ravi Kahlon, Harry Bains and Rachna Singh

In the spotlight: Little Miss Higgins brings her country folk sounds to the stage at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on Friday, Nov 4 PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

Mark Falkenberg mwfalkenberg@burnabynow

Istill sometimes lis ten for Luka’s skate board the growl of the wheels rolling up and down the blacktop on my street as he practises But I can’t hear it anymore.

And I still sometimes expect to hear his voice on evenings when the weather is good, summoning his father so that the fam ily can start their supper at their patio table: “Papa! Essen!”

But I can’t hear him I

never will again A year ago, Luka took a dose of poisoned opioids at his home next door to mine He’d taken a nearly fatal dose two months before This time they couldn’t revive him

He was 13 Luka was the son of my neighbours, Robert and Anne, who moved to my Port Moody neighbour hood not long after I did They were new arrivals to Canada, from Germany via the United States.They were friendly tolerant of my pestering them all the time to teach me new Ger

man words and hope ful about their new life on theWest Coast They had a daughter first a sweet, shy girl and a couple of years later they had Luka

I remember him as an imp smiling, bright and mischievous For him, boundaries were meant to be crossed.To Luka, “Don’t go there” meant “Go there now.” He showed an early genius for troublemaking. He was Max and Moritz and the Katzenjammer Kids and the Kin Der Kids rolled into one Anne recalls that it was

Mourned: Luka,

this,” she says “I remem ber when he smiled for the first time as a tiny little baby Robert and I said, ‘We are in trouble ’”

in

obvious from the start that the boy with the puck ish grin would be a hand ful “He was born like

As exhausting as their son’s behaviour was, Rob ert and Anne couldn’t help but be amused by his de fiant spirit and ironclad self confidence.They nick named him “derTeufel” (the devil) and got him a T shirt labelled as such He wore it proudly.

When Luka started ele mentary school, Anne and Robert were called on to make not infrequent visits to the principal’s office

She recalls how Luka organized clandestine box ing matches based on the underground society in the movie Fight Club It took the school authorities a couple of weeks to find out about it He promoted some kid mischief, start ing snowball fights, playing pranks on other children. But his behaviour wasn’t cruel. He might, say, stick his foot out to trip a class mate, but afterward he would win the victim over as a friend

“It was never bad to wards people nobody

The launch of a new text message based system is set to alert those living in the Fraser Health re gion of any toxic drugs po tentially circulating in their community

Text notifications can be now sent to local subscrib ers who want timely infor mation about illicit sub stances and increases in toxic drug poisonings in their region

Interested residents with a cellphone can text “JOIN” to 253787 to sub scribe to theToxic Drug and Health Alerts System

Managed by the BC Centre for Disease Con trol (BCCDC), it’s roll ing out across the province to help prevent toxic drug poisonings and overdose deaths

“So many lives have been lost to the toxic

drug emergency in Fraser Health and across B.C.,” says Sheila Malcolmson, minister of mental health and addictions, in a news release “TheToxic Drug and Health Alerts System is one more tool that can save lives, along with the treatment beds, preven tion and harm reduction actions we are expanding with urgency.”

Fraser Health adds the system is anonymous and free, though standard mes sage and data rates may apply Subscribers can also anonymously submit in formation, including the date and location of drug overdose, a physical de scription of the drug and packaging, where the sub stance was purchased and what it is believed to be Community members including those who

use substances are en couraged to submit infor mation by texting “OD” to 253787

Once received, the in formation is reviewed by harm reduction teams and used in conjunction with other sources to send text message alerts to subscrib ers People who use drugs, community partners, emergency departments, first responders, drug user groups and the BC Cor oners Service all help in form alerts

This new system is an additional layer to Fraser Health’s existing email notification system that shares information about specific illicit substances in circulation or sudden in creases in toxic drug poi sonings in our region

“The toxicity and un predictability of the un

regulated supply is driving drug poisoning deaths,” says Dr Alexis Crabtree, public health physician, substance use and harm reduction, with the Public Health Response team.

“Ultimately, we need a regulated drug supply to reduce deaths. It’s also im portant that, right now, we give people the best in formation we can about the unregulated supply

The text based alert sys tem is one way people can quickly receive informa tion and alert others in their communities about particularly dangerous substances ”

The system was de veloped by the BCCDC and the Office ofVirtual Health at the Provincial Health Services Author ity in partnership with re gional health authorities

could get hurt,” Anne says. “But it was him testing out danger A risk taker that was him ‘Let’s do some thing that’s not allowed’ … but it was never meant to hurt anybody”

He lived to know more and try new things

“In elementary school before summer break, he said to me, ‘I want an ear ring,’” Anne says She tried to talk him out of it you are very young and peo ple will judge you harshly Luka had a rebuttal ready: ‘Mom, little babies get ear rings This is sexist ’

“He got his earring I had no arguments to win this.”

He grew up fast, literally At 12 he was taller than pretty much every other kid in his grade and before long most adults, too He had always pulled childish pranks; now his

transgressions grew more serious He started tak ing drugs It was a crossed boundary he would not live to uncross

Luka was 12 when his parents found out he was using.

“The first time when I found marijuana in his room, we had a big fight,”

Anne says “He said to me, ‘Mom, I want to go some where A place to help me.’”

A counsellor warned against it for one thing, finding a place that could treat a 12 year old would have been needle in hay stack stuff; for another, it might put Luka in contact with older kids with more serious drug problems and access to more serious drugs

“I always wonder if I should have pushed it I don’t know.”

Before long, it seemed,

Luka lost whatever fear he had of what drugs might do to him He went through counselling, but it didn’t take One day a counsellor warned the par ents that Luka had con fessed to using heroin and cocaine Anne and Robert confronted the boy, who refused to go back.

In August 2021, Luka overdosed at home His father got to him in time and revived him.

“They drove us to the hospital and they checked that his ribs weren’t bro ken and then they said, ‘You can go,’ Anne re members “And I said, ‘What’s now?What do we do?’ And they said, ‘Well, there are re sources…. Here’s the ad dress of the addiction clinic ’We went right away the next morning he was still throwing up.”

The clinic doctor said

Luka was “on the cusp of” addiction but it was more “experimentation ” A counsellor later met with him and wrote a report that drew the same conclu sion Ten days before Lu ka’s death, a psychiatrist told Anne and Robert, “It’s experimentation ” They didn’t agree with that conclusion They still don’t

DRUG CRISIS

Week after week, year after year, there is never a letup to the bad news Headlines like “B C ’s opi oid crisis keeps getting worse,” “B C on near record pace for toxic drug overdoses in 2022,” and “Overdose deaths increase in BC and inVancouver SRO hotels,” are numb ingly commonplace Sometimes the voices of those left behind rise above the litany of death

toll updates. Glacier Me dia reporter Maria Ran tanen, for instance, has written movingly of death of her son, Michael, to toxic drugs My cousin, Rachel Staples, has been a de facto spokesperson for B C families traumatized by the opioid crisis, after the overdose death of her 16 year old son, Elliot, in 2018

Rachel has made a forceful case that parents in B C who have kids with drug problems have been sidelined from the treat ment process, sometimes with fatal results

Anne agrees, saying par ents need more decision making power over the treatment of their children

“Because kids can de cide whether they want to go in treatment or not,” she says “If they say no you can’t bring them there.

“He was a minor Where

do you draw the line? How old does the kid have to be that you as a parent can say, ‘Yes, I want you to keep him in the hospital’?”

A year after losing their son, Anne and Robert are still seeking answers about what happened could they have done more to save him?Why are danger ous drugs so easy for chil dren to get?What can be done to save other kids so that they will have the chance to reach adult hood?

At the same time they still struggle to come to grips with their loss

“The police called us to say we can pick up his phone,” Anne says “But we couldn’t We haven’t done it yet.We just can’t. It’s so final ”

Mark Falkenberg is ed itor of the Burnaby Now, NewWestminster Record and Tri City News

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As of April 2023 the US mint will no longer one cent coins Like most countries in the world, they have found the cost of manufacturing them exceeds the value and usefulness of the cent. The cent that most people recognize is with Lincoln on the front(obverse) issued to commemorate Lincoln’s 100th birthday Production of this obverse started in 1909 and had a back (reverse) of wheat ears until 1958 From 1959 until 2008 the reverse had the Lincoln Memorial on the reverse Like most USA coins, cents were made in three different mints, identified by a letter under the date They are Philadelphia (no mint mark at all), Denver (D) and San Francisco (S) The two most expensive that were issued are the 1909 S with the initials VDB at the bottom of the reverse and 1922 with no D mint mark They were supposed to have that D as all were n=made in Denver Both of these are worth $500.00 and up The 1943 cent was struck in steel and has a white colour to it With a mintage of one billion, it does not have much value

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Nurse Next Door has been serving proudly serving quality home care families in Burnaby, the Tri Cities and New Westminster Over the last 8 years, Nurse Next Door has gone from an idea at a coffee shop to one of the city’s most trusted senior home care providers Taking the burden off of families, Nurse Next Door allows seniors to maintain their dignity and independence while still receiving the care and attention they need Nurse Next Door provides a full spectrum of compassionate and flexible home care services, ranging from three hours-per week of friendly companionship right through to around-the clock care from a registered nurse Nurse Next Door strives to ensure that services help individuals with a variety of professional care needs so that clients can remain happy healthy and at home

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Sportsnow

Burnabyhockeyplayertocompeteonworldstage

Gabriel Guilbault,who plays with the Penticton Vees,is representing Canada in theWorld U 17 Hockey Challenge next month

JessBalzer jfedigan@burnabynow com

A Burnaby hockey player will get to represent his country on the world stage

Gabriel Guilbault, who currently plays defence for the BCHL’s Penticton Vees, has been selected to represent Canada at the 2022World U 17 Hockey Challenge next month in Langley and Delta Guilbault is one of seven blue liners who will play forTeam Can ada Red in the tourna ment that will also fea

ture two other Canadian teams (White and Black), plus teams from Finland, Sweden, the United States and Czechia

“Gabe is an upcom ing elite defenceman, and this is a well deserved honour in making one of Canada’s under 17 teams,” PentictonVees general manager, presi dent and head coach Fred Harbinson said in a news release. “I am confident he will do an outstand ing job representing Can ada, theVees, and the BC Hockey League (BCHL) at the tournament ”

Each team will play six preliminary games with the top four teams ad vancing to the medal round

Team Canada Red will faceTeam Canada Black in its first game on Nov 3 at 7 p m at the Langley Events Centre.

Guilbault spent the 2021/22 season with the BurnabyWinter Club U18 prep team, scor ing two goals and adding 18 assists for 20 points in 30 games.

He was also aWHL Cup champion with team B.C. last year.

PHOTO JACK MURRAY/PENTICTON VEES

Professional boxing returning to Grand Villa Casino

Professional boxing is returning to Burnaby Empire Boxing Enter prises will be hosting its followup to Reloaded on Nov. 12 at the GrandVilla Casino

TheTakeover will see six fights involving boxers from B.C., Alberta and Ontario Unlike Reloaded, theTakeover will be an in person show only.

Instead of a pay per view option, a follow up

film will be released af ter the event, according to Empire Boxing Enter prises.

“We are looking for ward to featuring two fe male bouts on this card to showcase the up and coming talent on the fe male side of boxing and to continue our support of women’s sports,” Empire Boxing co founder Anna Farrant said in a news re lease.

“Keep an eye out for Jordan Dobie from Ed monton as she makes her

pro debut as well as River Tucker making her debut out of Quinit Boxing here inVancouver.Those will be two great matchups ”

The following fights are currently scheduled:

MAIN EVENT

Buneet Bisla of Bisla Martial Arts in Sur rey, vs JanksTrotter of Lethbridge, Alta in light heavyweight

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Rhett Gibbons of Inaim Boxing in NorthVancou

ver vs. Justin Grant from Donnybrook Boxing Club in Montreal in super wel terweight

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Jordan Dobie from Southside Legion Box ing Club in Edmonton, vs Bonnie Hunter from Gideon Boxing Club in Toronto in lightweight

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Qadir Hamid from Qui nit Boxing Club inVan couver vs Elroy Fruto from Mendoza Boxing

Club in Surrey in super lightweight

BOUT 1

RiverTucker of Quinit Boxing Club in EastVan couver vs Ericka Her nandez from Donnybrook Boxing Club in Montreal in super bantamweight

EVENT INFO

Details of the sixth bout will be released once de tails are confirmed.

Tickets range from $67 90 to $223 85 and are available online. Buy

through eventbrite.ca (search for theTakeover)

“After selling out our last event, Reloaded, in July, we are excited to continue the momen tum with theTakeover and look forward to put ting on a great evening of pro boxing and seeing the support from the local community,” Jana Fink briner, head of social me dia for Empire Boxing, said.

You can find out more online at empireboxing enterprises.com.

Top talent: Burnaby’s Gabriel Guilbault from the Penticton Vees (#67) has been selected to Team Canada Red for the 2022 World U 17 Hockey Challenge in Langley and Delta next month

JessBalzer jfedigan@burnabynow com

MargaretCoates

AsWe Age contributor

Though the weather is telling us another story this year seemingly endless sunshine, and warmer weather than most mid Octobers the win ter will be here before we know it

I heard a rumour that it is going to be a wet, cold winter In preparation for the colder, rainier months there is a lot we can do to prepare.

The number 1 strategy, in my view, is getting your flu and pneumonia shots and your next COVID booster Last year, in the October 2021 edition of On Health, an article said that “Experts expect that the flu will make a come back this winter circulat

ing along with other sea sonal respiratory viruses as well as the coronavi rus.” I think it will be the same this year Because of a more relaxed attitude to COVID 19, many peo ple are not masking up or keeping their distance from one another, so this could provide added risks for contacting the viruses I feel like I was blessed over the last two years mercifully, no colds or flus.

During the winter, re spiratory diseases can dis proportionately affect older people. Many people do not realize vital respi ratory health is related to aging well. Keeping your respiratory system healthy can improve your qual ity of life and help you live longer.

However, immune func

tion naturally decreases with age, because as we grow older, our immune system becomes slower to respond to outside influ ences and causes us to be

more susceptible to respi ratory illnesses

In fact, older adults have a far higher risk of con tracting infections like colds, flus, and pneumonia

than younger people

So, what can we do?

Experts say we should consider vaccinations as a first line of defence If we get vaccinated, we may

avoid getting these three diseases ourselves and we also prevent spread ing these diseases to other more immune compro mised people, pregnant women, and those who don’t or won’t get vacci nated Most importantly, research has shown that if after being vaccinated you do contract flu, pneumo nia, or COVID 19, your risk of a serious, lengthy illness or hospitalization is reduced

Aside from getting your shots and staying con nected, we can also stay healthy through exercise, eating well, getting enough sleep, getting outdoors, and staying hydrated

Every winter, house bound seniors are also at higher risk of depression,

Beprepared: A senior gets a jab at a COVID 19 vaccination clinic in 2021 Now is the time for seniors to start prepping for winter, including getting boosters and flu shots, writes columnist Margaret Coates

PHOTO MIKEWAKEFIELD,NORTHSHORENEWS

AS WE AGE Celebrating Seniors

Ascostsrise,low-incomeseniorsarefallingbehind

CindyE.Harnett ceharnett@timescolonist com

B C must urgently con sider the health and eco nomic implications of an aging population living on minimum wage and unable to pay for hous ing or medical aids, says a University ofVictoria re searcher

“It’s totally shocking,” Susan McDaniel said of a recent report by B C ’s se niors watchdog that found about one in four seniors live on less than $21,000 a year increasingly unable to pay rising rents, afford dental work or eyeglasses, maintain their homes or pay their bills The median income for B.C. seniors in 2019 was $30,750

“If you look underneath the covers of it, low in

come older adults in B C are getting crunched” be tween stagnating pensions and supports and increas ing costs, said McDan iel, an adjunct sociology professor and research af filiate for the Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health at UVic “That’s what it amounts to”

The report, B.C. Se niors: Falling Further Be hind released by seniors advocate Isobel Macken zie, finds costs are soar ing for seniors on fixed in comes while pensions and government supports and services are flat lining

Mackenzie, in a phone interview this past week, said she was surprised by statistics showing B C ranks behind most of the country in the supports and services.

“It was a shock to me,” she said “I didn’t know we were the worst ”

The report, which makes 10 recommenda tions, received national media attention but did not yield an immediate to do list from the govern ment Mackenzie believes that will come.

“I think the magnitude of some of these issues, as demonstrated in the re sponse to the report, is go ing to resonate with the decision makers who may have underestimated the challenges out there, par ticularly for seniors who rent and particularly for seniors who need home support services and and other extended health ben efits,” she said

In B C , most seniors 65 and older received Old

Age Security, which maxes out at $8,000 annually, as well as Canada Pension Plan benefits with a max imum of about $15,000 annually. About one in four in B C received the Guaranteed Income Sup plement, which maxes out at $11,952 a year for low income seniors earn ing less than $20,208 a year The three com bined typically amount to $22,649 annually

B C tops up the pen sions of the lowest income

seniors by $99 a month but fewer than 10 per cent receive that, and the amount the fourth low est amount in the coun try The supplements in other provinces and terri tories range from $33.33 a month in New Brunswick to $300 in Nunavut; Nova Scotia and Quebec do not offer a top up.

The report goes on to show B C neither subsi dizes dental care (six other provinces do) nor hearing aids and mobility devices (seven others do)

“What low income se niors are doing is doing without,” McDaniel said “What are they going to do? No. 1, they’re going to end up more ill ”

Long standing evidence shows seniors who can’t hear have fewer interac

tions with people and be come more isolated, af fecting their mental health, she said, while “bad teeth lead to the increasing like lihood of the onset of de mentia ”

The Falling Further Be hind report recommends giving extended health benefits to seniors need ing eyeglasses, hearing aids and mobility aids, for ex ample, as well as working with the federal govern ment to ensure dental cov erage for seniors

It also recommends de velopment of a program to help low and modest in come seniors with home repairs

Typically, seniors are injured trying to reach things, clean or make re pairs “they shouldn’t be doing,” McDaniel said.

What low income seniors are doing … is doing without

Stayconnectedtofamily

isolation and other health related issues. These factors can ad versely affect seniors’ well being and inde pendence Research has shown the health risks of social isolation include: increased chance of pre mature death; reduced sense of well being; dis ability from chronic dis eases; poor mental health; increased use of health and support services; caregiver burden; and an increased number of falls

Like the use of vacci nations as a first line of defence in keeping our respiratory systems safe, staying connected to fam ily, friends and commu nity is perhaps the best strategy to keep from get

ting depressed and iso lated in the cold, rainy months ahead.

What can you do to stay connected?You could try visiting your friends and neighbours regularly now that the COVID re strictions have been re duced

Try chatting with friends on the phone or invite friends to take a walk with you Try vol unteering this gives you an opportunity to give back to the commu nity and will increase your own sense of well being

You can also get out to seniors’ centres and other organizations to get your social needs met

While we usually do not experience the cold weather that our friends farther north do, we can

have some cold weather snaps bringing snow or freezing rain and ice that we need to prepare for If you want to get out doors more, some prac tical suggestions include: dress appropriately, be careful getting out of your car, avoid taking shortcuts when out walking, take extra time preparing to go out, pay attention on slip pery sidewalks, and try not to get distracted

Keep your driveway and walkways salted and clear, and prepare your house, car and yourself for the cold and rainy months.

Always be prepared, say the Boy Scouts So let’s follow their example.

Margaret Coates is the co ordinator of Lionsview Seniors’Planning Society

A recent report by the B C seniors advocate makes grim reading

Nearly half of the se niors in our province have incomes below the mini mum wage, while a quar ter are eking out a liv ing on less than $21,000 a year

As a result, 84 per cent of low income seniors report running out of money for food at some point, and the use of food banks by seniors rose 78 per cent over the past five years

Part of the problem is that public pension plans have not kept up with the cost of living in high price regions like B C

As the report points out, while the minimum wage increased by 40 per cent between 2015 and 2020, seniors’ pension income increased by only 14 per cent

Obviously, housing costs are a huge challenge Over the past decade, the allow able rent increase climbed 34 per cent in B C , while pension incomes rose by just 25 per cent

An unfurnished one bedroom apartment inWestVancouver now costs $2,621 a month That’s the highest rate in the country, and well be yond the affordability

range for many seniors.

In an attempt to offset these astronomical prices, the B C government of fers a rent supplement for low income seniors called SAFER (Shelter Aid For Elderly Renters). But al though the program aims to limit rent payments to no more than 30 per cent of income, it has mani festly failed to do that

At present, seniors living in a one bedroom apart ment inVancouver will spend more than 60 per cent of their income on rent.That leaves precious little for the other necessi ties of life

Likewise the province’s Seniors Subsidized Hous ing program, which also helps with rent payments, has fallen hopelessly be hind The wait list has grown by 50 per cent in the past five years, while fewer than 10 per cent of eligible applicants were as sisted last year

The seniors advocate raises an additional con cern At present, seniors living at home who require daily assistance, such as help with mobility, bathing and grooming, can receive publicly subsidized home support

But for many, the cost is prohibitive. Seniors making $28,000 a year

pay $8,800 for a daily 45 minute visit That’s 30 per cent of their annual in come

This arrangement makes no sense It costs far more than $8,800 to move someone into a nursing home often the only viable alternative

It would actually save the government money to reduce the daily rate for home support so that more seniors can remain in their home

Overall, the picture that emerges from this report is a huge regression in qual ity of life for many of our elderly citizens, driven by sky high housing costs and the failure of various sup port programs to keep up

This is a dramatic turn around from the position 30 years ago when, after decades of languishing at the bottom of the income scale, seniors attained a comfortable living, thanks in part to government as sistance.

What has happened in part is that priorities, at both the federal and pro vincial level, have shifted toward aiding low income families with children By all means that need is real.

But it shouldn’t come at the price of abandoning the elderly.

B C will have a new

premier in December, when John Horgan steps down

should honour the longstanding promise that our elderly

comfort

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Memorial Funeral Service for ALLEN, Shirley Maud

Shir ey Maud A len (née Corbou d), age 98, passed away peacefuly n Duncan B C on October 21st, 2020 She was born in 1922 in New Westminster, B C , where she lived a most cont nuously for 93 years

During WW2 she worked for 2 years as a secretary for the A uminum Company of Canada n Montrea Starting in 1944 she stud ed languages at UBC and obta ned her BA (Honours) degree n 1947 She married Ernest Al en in 1948 and stayed home to ra se two sons Volunteering was an important part of her l fe She was past Pres dent of the Un versity Women s Club, acted as secretary of the St Barnabas Anglican Church Committee for 14 years worked with the CNIB for 32 years, and was a member of the PEO Sisterhood for 50 years

She played tennis nto her m d eighties, was an avid reader (in any of four languages) and a pass onate animal lover There were only a few years of her life when she d d not have a dog as a companion

Fami y was real y the focus of her l fe and her greatest joy Her ove and devotion w l be missed

She s predeceased by her husband of 56 years, Ernest Al en, her e dest son, Kenneth Donn Al en, and by her three brothers Gordon, Donovan, and Kenneth Corbould She s surv ved by her son, Gordon Allen her daughters n law Shir ey Imada and Jan Christie, and her grandchi dren Jeni Chr st e and Yarrow Rachael and Graeme Allen

Mom’s ashes have been nterred n the Church of England section of the Fraser Cemetery in New Westminster

There